Category: Free

Embrace 2018

Embrace 2018

2018.

EMBRACE.

To fully and enthusiastically accept.

All that this year has to offer, all that God has to offer, and MORE.

Embracing calling, identity, challenges, celebrations, and the small moments.

Embracing love, joy, and peace in ALL things.

Embracing courage, fearlessness, and boldness.

Embracing who I am, imperfections and all,

BUT Not letting who I am go unchanged, instead embracing growth!

I choose to welcome others with open arms,

Grace, and a smile on my face.

A warm embrace.

Mark 11:23-25 The Message (MSG)

22-25 Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins.”

My Hope Story- 3 Years Ago to Now

My Hope Story- 3 Years Ago to Now

If I looked at my life 3 years ago, at this time I was in the midst of chaos and panic. My new fiancé at the time had just told me he felt a block in his heart for me, on my birthday, which I felt was the worst possible timing.  We had experienced problems on and off, but always had hope that we would eventually work things out. We were both committed and loyal, yet often it seemed that we were trying to force it to work. The entire Christmas season was a roller coaster of emotions, something I had never experienced. The holidays (and my birthday) had always been a time full of love, security, hope, and generosity. That year, it seemed like my heart was being ripped out of me over and over again.

I wrote in my journal, “Why is life so hard? Why do I have to wallow in self pity like I do? Why can’t i be free and happy like I used to be? Why is it so complicated and hurtful?”

Later that year, I would go on to take a break, and eventually break off the engagement and relationship, after having exhausted all options of help and repair. It was one of the hardest and most weighty decisions I had ever made. I wrestled with fear of what others would think, say, or if I would ever be able to love again. I didn’t know if anyone would want to be with me if I had already called off an engagement with another guy. Yet I knew I could not continue to live the way things were going for another few months, let alone an entire lifetime. When I finally made the decision and followed through, it was like a weight was released from my shoulders. I finally felt like my free and happy self again, after so many months of despair.

Little did I know, was that in about 9 more months, I would experience more freedom, and eventually I would go on a date with the person who would be my husband- right around the same season where I felt it all first fall apart the year before. THEN, a year later, I would be marrying him. And now, another year later, and 3 years total after that desperate season, I am almost a year married, and finding it hard to believe that life can really be this good again.

I KNOW there will be depths yet to come (such is life), BUT I also KNOW God follows through on His promises. He is GOOD (ALL THE TIME), and will not leave me alone, even at the depths of the most confusing of moments. I know a breakup is not the most hopeless of moments, but as Victor Frankl says,

“… suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the “size” of human suffering is absolutely relative.”

What are you suffering through today? Can you remember a time when you had greater suffering? What about greater hope?

Can you imagine where your life could be just 1, 2, or 3 years from now? We do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds our future.

There is HOPE!

Factory of Truth

Factory of Truth

I heard the buzzer sound, signifying the start of another work day. The whir of the machines and the lights flickering to illuminate the warehouse full of information. Some was stored in shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling. Other information was spilled out as if it had popped off the shelf unexpectedly. Then it started rolling towards me. My job was to decide whether or not it was useful, true, a lie, or if it was completely irrelevant and needed to be destroyed altogether. Loads and loads of information came my way and not too long into the day, I realized I was starting to run behind. It’s not that my hands and mind weren’t fast enough to keep up, but some of the information was so deceptively sneaky that I had a hard time deciphering if it was actually truth or a lie. Some things had a little truth in them, but there would be something that just didn’t seem right about it. The more I tossed, the more I saw just how much junk was accumulating.

Every once in awhile, I would think back to something I had tossed earlier in the day, dig through the discarded items until I found it, and re-examine it. Why was this so hard? I had the rest of my life to work at this factory and I can’t even get the job done for a couple hours without backtracking, rethinking, and reevaluating.

Soon, I started to feel overwhelmed with the noise of the machines and the constant load of information that came my way for me to decipher through and sort.

I found if I turned off the tv for most of the day, there seemed to be a lighter stream of info. This made the job a little more bearable, but also a little more real since I didn’t have funny stories or intriguing dramas to keep me occupied.

As the days and weeks wore on, I noticed that when I intentionally started my morning with information that I knew was the truth, I found it easier to recognize more truth throughout the day, and stay focused.

Eventually, I realized I had a helper standing next to me the whole time who was willing to help if I only asked. As I turned to gaze upon the face of this glorious helper, I saw wisdom, love, and compassion. Here was the answer to my prayers, the one that would help me discern the truth, keep the truth and discard the lies.

We have hoards of information coming our way every single day. It is up to us to decide what is truth and what is not. Sometimes we are spot on, and other times we let lies creep in thinking they are truth. What we often forget is that it is not our job alone. We have the Holy Spirit as our helper who intimately knows us and expansively knows the truth. We can rely on him to help us sort the lies from the truth. Sometimes we need to remove the distractions, remove the outpouring of lies from the start and give ourselves a little space to breath, to discern, and to listen to the Holy Spirit.

Praying truth into your day today, and all the discernment to find it.

 

UNSUBSCRIBE

UNSUBSCRIBE

How many useless emails do you get on a daily basis? I’m always one for a deal, so I seem to find myself signing up for an email discount, and subsequently receiving multiple emails, sometimes daily from the same places about things I neither want nor need.

I find myself almost every morning, weeding out all of those meaningless emails to find the few good ones that actually contain valuable information for my life. Years upon years of spending time reading through subject lines and deleting thousands upon probably millions of emails, and today, just today, I unsubscribed. Thinking it would be too much of a hassle to unsubscribe from these countless emails, I just dealt with them because I thought I had to.

I “suffered” through the daily bombardment of countless emails unnecessarily! All that I had to do was simply scroll to the bottom of the email, and hit that joyous word UNSUBSCRIBE. It was much simpler than I thought, and got me thinking about some other things I was possibly avoiding because they seemed complicated, when they might actually be quite simple.

Maybe that means actually writing that thank you letter that you meant to send to your grandma

  • calling that friend that you lost touch with
  • cleaning up the mess in the sink (it will probably take less than 2 minutes- you can do it!)
  • Folding the clothes
  • Saying you’re sorry

Sometimes, we build things up in our heads to make them scary and huge, when a simple action can rid us of the worry and anxiety we create for ourselves.

If it actually ends up being bigger, sometimes the simple act can be a good start, and makes it easier to act again, and again, and again.

Unsubscribe.

#23forfree

As you may have heard, this past Saturday was my birthday and I turned 23! The adventure of this past year has been a wild ride, but I am so thankful for the lessons learned and the community and friendships that have resulted!

This year, I decided to celebrate in a way that only seemed fitting, by celebrating for free. So I signed up for all of the free birthday emails/clubs (mostly found here), and made a day of it!

 Started out at Denny’s for some free breakfast. Split it with the lovely Jazmin who agreed to accompany me for this crazy idea and we were actually quite filled with the half breakfast!

 Then I got a haircut (which was actually not free but I did get a discount!).


Shortly following the haircut I redeemed an email for a free burger at Ruby Tuesdays, which we also split and shared.


Onto Starbucks to get my free drink (Venti Green tea frappachino with chocolate shavings on top).


Then to Sephora for a free lipstick gift!


Then we finally ended at Panera for a free pastry!

While there are still many more free things to redeem in the week to come, the best gift I could have received this year was the great privilege of being surrounded by family and friends, which is absolutely FREE!